You can buy "Almond Meal" at Trader Joe's (on the West Coast only, unfortunately). It is just finely ground almonds (including the skin). The skin will actually add flavor, but it will affect the coloration of the finished cookie (no problem for me). Hopefully you have access to a Trader Joe's.

Crisco's new no-transfat formulation does not perform like traditional Crisco. It has ruined my formerly fabulous pie crust, and I think it would adversely affect the Almond Cookies as well. The new Crisco seems to perform more like an oil than a solid.

I've tried this recipe with the modifications shared by Jacq.. my mum couldn't stop complimenting it! great recipe! Thanks for sharing! I made 70+ cookies that are of smaller size to fit in my containers with smaller mouths..

I've seen other recipes where they have you grind the almonds with the sugar to get the fine grind required for some recipes. (Toasting them lightly to crisp them, then cooling them down helps, and brings up the flavor, too.) The almonds do get much finer and the sugar grinds finer too, which makes blending and disolving it into the butter easier. Shortbread and Sable cookies benefit from a creamier blending of the butter and sugar, I don't think the almonds included would hurt the mixture, since it's got it's own fat to blend in as well. In fact, it might flavor it better!